I personally, in this instance would probably say pier. Wharf to me sounds like a place covered in shops and restaurants. Finally quay is fine, but if you are adressing an American audience the meaning of the word is very apt to be lost.

Cruise Ships - Long Beach, CA - Los Angeles Harbor -
All Carnival Cruise Line Ships and some ships of the cruise lines owned by Carnival'... 1-1/2 blocks from the San Francisco Cruise Ship Terminal at Pier 35. ...
www.sanpedro.com/spcom/crusshp2.htm

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Note added at 31 mins (2005-06-28 15:44:43 GMT)
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the berth is the specific parking spot at the pier

Berth: There are several definitions: the dock or pier where you embark or debark from the ship; sufficient space for a ship to manoeuvre; the bed in which you sleep onboard the ship

the following is for cargo ships-they do not mention passenger boarding
but there are plenty of glossaries available on google

wharf: The place at which ships tie up to unload and load cargo. The wharf typically has front and rear loading docks (aprons), a transit shed, open (unshedded) storage areas, truck bays, and rail tracks.
Pier: A structure which juts out into a waterway from the shore, for mooring vessels and cargo handling. Sometimes called a finger pier.

quay: A wharf, which parallels the waterline.

http://www.aapa-ports.org/industryinfo/glossary.html

Just to expand on what the others have already said. Given that the words (as Rita says) are not merely interchangeable, and in addition, that they have very different connotations between US and UK English, unless you are sure of your target readership, you might be well advised to steer clear of any one of them.

To my UK ears, they have the following connotations:

quay, quayside is the most neutral, would be OK for your needs at a push, if acceptable to US readers?

wharf suggests (probably small) industrial quay where goods are loaded, perhaps fishing boats etc. But cf. Canary Wharf in London -- very hifalutin', that, but NOT for embarking passengers!

dock suggests (probably larger) industrial quay, with large cranes, warehouses etc. Note that it really originally referred to the piece of water where the boats lie, and is only 'dockside' by extension. But cf. redeveloped East India Dock in London.

pier suggests a kind of jetty, a structure that sticks out into the sea (may well NOT be the case in your context...), or of course, the very British 19th century idea of a 'pleasure pier', all cast-ironwork and toffee apples, with a theatre on the end, etc. cf. Brighton Pier

Note that the big liners leave from what is called the Ocean Terminal in Southampton; although this does really refer to the land-based facilities, in practice the term is used more loosely to apply equally to the general quayside area

:-}

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Note added at 1 hr 0 min (2005-06-28 16:13:49 GMT)
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What you actually seem to have at Seebäderkaje is a \"pontoon pier\", which is the boarding point.
Sorry, just a cache link
[http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:2WwM-RCKlNYJ:www.bafg.de...]

if you possibly can; I'll admit I've never been on a cruise, but I've seen enough brochures and newspaper and magazine ads to convince me that only the really expensive cruises use terminals. I'm not trying to denigrate Bremerhaven, but when my sister cruised from there in the 1980s (as a member of the crew), the passengers were transferred to the ship's side and went straight aboard - no question of using a terminal. If the itinerary is clear on this point, it may make sense to say: "transfer by luxury coach direct to the ship lying at the Seebäderkaje in Bremerhaven, and go on board". Or something like that.

an alternative to yours, and one that it is widely used in the cruise industry. The word "terminal" does not refer to the pier itself, but to the facilities built on land to handle the passengers.

Cruise Ship Service Provided By PRIME TIME SHUTTLE
Carnivals state-of-the-art Cruise Ship terminal is located immediately adjacent
to the Queen Mary, ... CARNIVAL CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL CRUISE LINES ...
www.primetimeshuttle.com/cruise_ship_service.htm - 11k

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Note added at 5 mins (2005-06-28 15:18:47 GMT)
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CruiseReport.com - Cruise review for Royal Caribbean, Adventure of ...
The cab took us to the new Royal Caribbean terminal, which we are told is the largest and newest cruise terminal in the world. ...
www.cruisereport.com/ report.asp?sr_id=101&pita=678&menubar=off - 88k

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Note added at 1 hr 46 mins (2005-06-28 16:59:10 GMT)
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TERMINAL

bremenports GmbH & Co. KG
... in Bremerhaven which has made it the most modern cruise terminal in Europe,
... Senator for Ports Perschau: \"Terminal at Bremerhaven again succeeds ...
www.bremenports.de/engl/presse.aspx - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

bremenports GmbH & Co. KG
... in Bremerhaven which has made it the most modern cruise terminal in Europe,
... With 20 cruise liners handled at the terminal, the figure was consistent ...
www.bremenports.de/engl/presse_ view.aspx?ID=427&TITEL=News - 9k


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Note added at 1 hr 48 mins (2005-06-28 17:01:31 GMT)
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Forget about quays, piers, or wharves. This is a TERMINAL:

Press Release
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Last weekend saw the first trial of Bremerhaven Cruise Terminal\'s new glass passenger
bridges after approval had been granted by local technical inspectors. ...
www.cruiseport.de/deutsch/resources/ images/download/presse26.06.02eng.pdf - Supplemental Result - Similar pages

Norwegian Sky Feature Review - Raoul Fiebig
... It almost sounds unbelievable even to myself! So when I approached the maitre d\'s
table at the Bremerhaven cruise terminal I asked for Neil D\'Souza. ...
www.cruisereviews.com/ncl/NorwegianSky8.htm - 25k - Supplemental Result


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Note added at 1 hr 51 mins (2005-06-28 17:04:37 GMT)
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You can see a picture of Bremerhaven´s \"Kreuzfahrtterminal\" here:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hs-bremerh...